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Paying Per Car
Posted by Jon Petrie
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Paying Per Car October 12, 2005 02:46PM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 2 |
<HTML>I want to thank everyone for their input on the subject "employees" covering paying people per car. I have found that it is working quite well for me and I am planning on staying with the new system. I especially appreciate comments by Mr. Abraham and agree that management is one of the keys to success in any business. While I am always trying to learn how to be a better manager through study and feedback, I have a long way to go. I am lavish in my praise and hearty in my approbation when it comes to my employees, but it is difficult to continually motivate an employee to push a quality hand wash out in 20 minutes that pays them $4. While pay is not the only motivating force in creating great employees, paying commission per car with a bonus if it meets all our standards seems to give an incentive to get things done fast and well. It allows for detailers to make much more than they could hourly. Where else can a detailer make $15-$25 an hour if they push hard enough? There aren’t too many shops that can pay that. Many successfully franchised auto repair shops pay mechanics per car, like Goodyear and firestone. Many salesmen are paid on commission only, and the driven ones do exceptionally well. Often times car washes pay the workers and salesmen a commission. The longest lasting and highest profit detail shops that I know of pay their employees on a per car basis. Of course employees in training would be paid hourly and could switch when ready. I agree that either system could work with proper management, but I also have to say that one might hold more advantages than disadvantages. Think about if you were an employee, would you want a system in place that pays you much more if you can do much more work? Which system would you prefer? If I were them, I would like getting paid per car because it would make me feel as if I was really getting a piece of the pie and my pay is soley based on my production. I would very much like to here any other feedback, disadvantages or advantages, good experiences or bad, that people have encountered paying employees per car.</HTML>
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Re: Paying Per Car October 12, 2005 05:14PM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 37 |
<HTML>Although I don't have an answer either way, I did post on your other thread and I'll post here too.
A few of questions I have are these...
If you pay per car, where does the time spent cleaning the shop, refilling bottles, doing laundry, etc come in?
I'm assuming you assign a detailer or two to a specific vehicle and they're responsible for it? In my case I have three detailers and they may or may not work on every vehicle that comes through. What then? Is the commission split among the detailers?
We have different levels of service (wash & vac, basic detail, full detail, etc). Do you pay a percentage of the invoice per vehicle or what?
I really like the basic concept...just having a hard time visualizing how it's implemented.
Steve Bough
The Shine Shop
Jasper, IN
PDTA Member</HTML>
A few of questions I have are these...
If you pay per car, where does the time spent cleaning the shop, refilling bottles, doing laundry, etc come in?
I'm assuming you assign a detailer or two to a specific vehicle and they're responsible for it? In my case I have three detailers and they may or may not work on every vehicle that comes through. What then? Is the commission split among the detailers?
We have different levels of service (wash & vac, basic detail, full detail, etc). Do you pay a percentage of the invoice per vehicle or what?
I really like the basic concept...just having a hard time visualizing how it's implemented.
Steve Bough
The Shine Shop
Jasper, IN
PDTA Member</HTML>
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Re: Paying Per Car October 13, 2005 12:55AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 3,550 |
<HTML>Paying by the car is not the way to motivate people. In fact, when you advertise "we pay by the car" all you attract is detailers who are the only people who will work by the car.
Better employees who do not understand "pay by the car" will not apply for a job.
You want to build team spirit, etc, but what you are telling an employee by paying by the car is "I don't trust you to work hard so I am paying you piece work."
When you pay by the car do you take out taxes? Do you pay Workers Compensation Insurance?
If you do not you are in legal trouble. If you do not know why contact me and I will explain it to you.
Collision repair shops and auto repair shops do not pay by the car, they pay what is called "Flat Rate."
How that works is that an employee is paid an hourly waged based on experience and tenure with the company.
These two industries publish books that give exact times do to all the jobs one could do on a car. For example, to remove and replace a front fender on a Ford Expedition might allow 4 hours. If a tech is making $15 per hour he is paid $120 whether he gets it done is 3 hours or 5 hours.
There is no comparison between what you are doing and what is done in these industries.
Further the example of commission sales people needs to be clarified. Some companies pay on commission only because that is what the salesperson wants. They know they can sell more than a salary or a base salary and a commission would pay.
Or they pay commission only because they cannot afford to hire a salesperson on salary or are too cheap to pay a salary. They do this for the same reason detail shop owners pay by the car.
Personally I pay by the hour and I train and I monitor and I motivate employees to work harder by setting time standards to get certain jobs done.
For example, a standard for a wax is 30 minutes or 2 waxes per hour. If the tech can do 3 waxes in an hour I give them an additional $5.00 or more depending on what you charge for the service.
You must set time standards and if they exceed them you give them additional monies.
Paying by the car started out from a faulty premise way back when in the detail industry for all the wrong reasons. It is not a way to attract good people nor motivate them to work harder.
What you must do is attract people with good values who are looking for a job, not work. Train them, establish performance standards and if they exceed these standards pay them.
That is the only way to improve your employee performance.
Bud ABraham</HTML>
buda
Better employees who do not understand "pay by the car" will not apply for a job.
You want to build team spirit, etc, but what you are telling an employee by paying by the car is "I don't trust you to work hard so I am paying you piece work."
When you pay by the car do you take out taxes? Do you pay Workers Compensation Insurance?
If you do not you are in legal trouble. If you do not know why contact me and I will explain it to you.
Collision repair shops and auto repair shops do not pay by the car, they pay what is called "Flat Rate."
How that works is that an employee is paid an hourly waged based on experience and tenure with the company.
These two industries publish books that give exact times do to all the jobs one could do on a car. For example, to remove and replace a front fender on a Ford Expedition might allow 4 hours. If a tech is making $15 per hour he is paid $120 whether he gets it done is 3 hours or 5 hours.
There is no comparison between what you are doing and what is done in these industries.
Further the example of commission sales people needs to be clarified. Some companies pay on commission only because that is what the salesperson wants. They know they can sell more than a salary or a base salary and a commission would pay.
Or they pay commission only because they cannot afford to hire a salesperson on salary or are too cheap to pay a salary. They do this for the same reason detail shop owners pay by the car.
Personally I pay by the hour and I train and I monitor and I motivate employees to work harder by setting time standards to get certain jobs done.
For example, a standard for a wax is 30 minutes or 2 waxes per hour. If the tech can do 3 waxes in an hour I give them an additional $5.00 or more depending on what you charge for the service.
You must set time standards and if they exceed them you give them additional monies.
Paying by the car started out from a faulty premise way back when in the detail industry for all the wrong reasons. It is not a way to attract good people nor motivate them to work harder.
What you must do is attract people with good values who are looking for a job, not work. Train them, establish performance standards and if they exceed these standards pay them.
That is the only way to improve your employee performance.
Bud ABraham</HTML>
buda
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Re: Paying Per Car October 13, 2005 02:02PM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 751 |
<HTML>Only thing I can add is that all of these different ways of paying people (whichever one you choose) are only as good as the people managing the chosen system . When I was at a Ford dealership they implemented a piece work system (we got a flat rate per car ) and it got abused to hell and back. The experienced full time detailers got paid 5 hours per vehicle for a full detail, and 1 hour for a "spot" (wash, quick scratch repair, paint a tow hitch ) . When vehicles came in from the auction, you might get it done in 2 hours , and do 4 in a day which means you got paid 20 hours for one 8 hour day.
The system worked well until people started cherry picking , leavng the nasty ones for the evening crew , and the evening crew then leaving those for the morning crew. The part timers would go in on Saturdays and cherry pick and make 50 - 60 hours on a Saturday and leave the nasty stuff for the full timers who would have to spend 8 hours working on some nasty mini van or truck. The whole department then entered a state of war more or less, constant bickering and even some fights. What started off as a really good detail department quickly fell apart with most of us leaving .
The other problem is what do you do when there isnt any work ? See how long a good detailer will stick around when he isnt making any money and he needs to make a mortgage payment . I had a couple of weeks where I came out ahead , other then that I actually made less than when I was getting paid hourly.
Jim.</HTML>
The system worked well until people started cherry picking , leavng the nasty ones for the evening crew , and the evening crew then leaving those for the morning crew. The part timers would go in on Saturdays and cherry pick and make 50 - 60 hours on a Saturday and leave the nasty stuff for the full timers who would have to spend 8 hours working on some nasty mini van or truck. The whole department then entered a state of war more or less, constant bickering and even some fights. What started off as a really good detail department quickly fell apart with most of us leaving .
The other problem is what do you do when there isnt any work ? See how long a good detailer will stick around when he isnt making any money and he needs to make a mortgage payment . I had a couple of weeks where I came out ahead , other then that I actually made less than when I was getting paid hourly.
Jim.</HTML>
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